.
Yes, be skeptical of everything,
including skeptics, and yourself.
It has worked well for me at least.
.....
Think of it this way.
Kinda from the top down.
The amount of energy in the universe has been exactly the same
since the beginning.
But we continually loose a tiny amount of energy.
No one has figured out for sure where it goes ???
That is called entropy.
And since matter is nothing but potential energy,,,
Energy , like matter, cannot be created or destroyed, just changed.
What was wood becomes heat, which becomes pressure differences
in the air which causes condensation, which causes rain to form, which falls, and nourishes the next tree.
Energy and matter move thru many many different states.
But there is always a balance kept.
With a small amount of entropy added in from somewhere ??
Everything is still in balance since the beginning.
That can be proved mathematically.
So even what we have learned about quantum physics must abide
by this balance.
Even things as massive as black holes are offset by new stars being born.
Nothing seems to be beyond this balancing power.
....
A system can be extremely complex, as most really are when you look
close enough.
Energy changes thru so many states it becomes virtually impossible for
us to keep track.
It can be easy to miss one little thing and think there has been
an increase in energy.
But nature herself shows us we are most likely wrong.
RichC
.